the algeria hostage crisis and with twenty three civilian casualties while france urges more help from african nations for the ballot volley campaign which triggered the desert standoff. the u.s. drops charges against online freedom activist aaron swartz who committed suicide last week meanwhile there are mounting claims that prosecutors played a part in his death. and israelis head to the polls this coming tuesday with prime minister benjamin netanyahu finding is a poor dwindling of on more radical voters. this

r.t. coming to you live from moscow with me marina joshie now the hostage crisis in algeria has an it with twenty three captives and thirty two militants confirmed dead following a four day military operation a total of six hundred eighty five people including one hundred seven foreigners were freed from the gas plant in the sahara desert with seven more civilians killed during the final rate the libyan militant group behind the initial attack claimed they were avenging french intervention in neighboring mali artie's playboy go reports from paris. what we have heard in the reports flying about that a number of the civilian hostages were executed by the islamic militants that were holding them hostage at the gas plant it's a very remote area where the gas plant is located so that's why the details are so hard to come by but from what we've also heard that the algerian army then in turn

killed a number of the islamic militants so we've got an increasing amount of it looks like a dead civilian hostage is a very tragic turn of events it's a siege that actually has been going on since thursday it's been a standoff between the algerian army and the islamic militants who are trying to occupy this plant and. among the civilian hostages we know that there were bread americans japanese citizens know french citizens from what we know so the hostage takers have the hostage takers have said all along that this is a retaliation for the french intervention in mali now we've even heard one jihadist leader say that france is quote open the gates of hell unquote so it's a very worrying escalation to what started off as a military intervention just over a week ago the french government reportedly the french government ostensibly just

responding to the mali government's request for help in driving out the islamic militants from the north of the country so it's definitely escalating a sense of unease definitely growing in france and looks like public opinion could really shift in relation to the mali intervention it's all come on the streets of paris but with an escalating military intervention in mali and an algerian hostage crisis in response to it french public opinion is predicted to turn against francois hollande pledged to help the mali government once he's really here but. normally do you may be taking on in mali. there may be a lot of questions then asked about his judgment and a lot of people who are supposedly supporting him now or may very quickly turn around and criticize it's already beginning to happen we've spoken to provisions here who lament the fact that they weren't told in advance that the military offensive was set to take place meanwhile voices in the french media complained of

a war with no pictures they say that there's a media blackout and accuse the government of making it intentional journalist surprising thing is that. we had no. recourse or information from. the day after this really started for most of all to when you see what's happening what has happened in iraq or in afghanistan surely if you will if you read to the region and if he lasts long it's going to be a problem comparisons already being made to the usa is experience in iraq and afghanistan conflicts that were initially supported at home out of a sense of patriotism and support for the troops but it turned into lengthy and costly and deeply unpopular wars at home now is this mission creep and it becomes only driving out the terrorists as some ministers and even

a long time self seem to be saying. that it's going to be a failure because you cannot drive out all the terrorists. and many soldiers die and there are attacks in paris and public opinion will shift the way for other wars either was started by france or was started by them by the us nevertheless french president francois hollande remains committed to the french military offensive in mali making grand statements that the french intervention were intense until legitimate authority in the country is restored but what many french people are beginning to wonder is just how long that might take and out what cost. r.t. paris. now france is continuing to increase its military presence in mali was two thousand troops now on the ground the final total could now top the originally planned twenty five hundred according to the country's defense minister paris has

meanwhile urged west african you're seeing their commitment to fighting is obvious militants in mali and their meeting in the ivory coast foreign minister laurent fabius stressed out the current french campaign was never intended as a substitute for an african led contingent deployed under un security council resolution france has also asked for more logistical assistance from the un in the ongoing conflict one of baseball what activists john rees says the mali intervention shows that western powers haven't learned from similar campaigns such as libya and against. the constant attentions of the imperial powers have generation after generation worsen the problem not made it better i'm surprised that they don't bore themselves by repeating this line we've heard it over afghanistan we've heard it over iraq we've heard it over libya and we should recall that right at the beginning of this process more than a decade ago the head of the security services in britain warned that then probably as to tony blair that the interventions in afghanistan and iraq would spread the

threat of terrorism not reduce it that warning has proved. absolutely correct there was no al qaida in iraq before we invaded it there it's not al qaeda had not spread to pakistan in the way that it has since the invasion of afghanistan and the intervention in libya has led directly to the spread of al qaida in mali and we should at least have learned by now but this is not the way in which to reduce the threat of terrorism which is actually a way in which you both straight in which you increase its attractiveness to young people in the region it is something that identify with perhaps if they want to better relations with the muslim world they can start by bettering the relations with the muslim community in france itself that would be a far more significant step forward then bombing yet another muslim country. they are such prizes and geria has caused the british prime minister to postpone

a much anticipated speech on the u.k.'s membership of the european union bought a preview revealed david cameron's warning that they may leave the blank and europe may fail more analysis of this in just a few minutes. the u.s. justice department has dropped charges against internet freedom activists aaron swartz who committed suicide last week he faced decades behind bars over accusations he illegally downloaded academic documents for public use the department's decision came after others ford's family said prosecutors were complicit in these deaths and tens of thousands of internet users expressed support for the claim jesus is the actual can and are reports. the crime downloading millions of academic papers in the public domain from a paid subscription database and the believe that they should be free. to essentially rocking out too many books in the library the punishment facing thirty years behind bars and a million dollar fine you're looking at

a crime that essentially amounts to download a p.d.f. to a hard drive. no person was harmed. there was no financial benefit murder received less punishment the result twenty six year old web wizard aaron swartz takes his own life the idea that he was facing decades in jail is is just disgusting absolutely appalling and and now we've lost a tremendously valuable and talented human being while the plea bargain deal for only several months behind bars was reportedly a possible outcome the internet freedom crusader refused to be seen as a felon his family and supporters blame the prosecution's aggressive attempts to put swartz behind bars for his suicide this man a young man and his family were literally terrorized by the prosecutors and the judicial discretion that let this case go forward and not stop while authorities

dubbed him a criminal supporter say he was a robin hood in the fight for freedom of information aaron swartz was a prodigy at fourteen he helped write the are assessed specific ation and online syndication system that allows users to consolidate feeds from numerous blog sites automatically instead of having to check each website individually the program is now part of the common vocabulary of the internet and is used on a daily basis for publishing news stories from all over the world critics say u.s. officials wanted aaron sent down to set an example he was going up against policy and he knew it but he thought he would be in the play in the law because he was only spreading public domain documents instead swartz. case has made an example of how seriously the internet is regulated in the us the laws under which he was indicted date back to nine hundred eighty four many believe they're long outdated the prison sentences needed to be relaxed especially for suppose of crimes like

this where there was no economic motive or there was no way for him to profit even if they said even if he did all the things that he did so they said he did new legislation dubbed aarons law has been proposed in the u.s. congress it's still unclear whether there will be any real change but what is clear is that it once again took a tragedy to galvanize national debate and party new york now the web wizards dad has spurred a flurry of tributes online from people who knew him and hacktivists from around the world calum up and from the international action center says they are nat has allowed people to start doubting their governments by making for a measly classified information accessible information is free and you can't you can't put it back you know you can't take it away and so now people with this new information with this new empowerment are going to struggle the occupy movement you know the gyptian revolution these are all signs that now with information in their hands people are in a fighting mood why should we trust the government of the word of their own by the

bankers and the corporations that commit wars and lie all the time why should we trust them to have a monopoly on information why shouldn't information be available to the people so that people could really rule isn't that the democratic ideal but it is not compatible with capitalism it's not compatible with a system where you have a few people you know having been properly on banks factories industries and so as a result it's not compatible you know they want to napoli on information just like they have a monopoly on the economy and that's what the struggle the struggle is to to oppose that and that's why there was a great hero in exposing that his work and bring it fighting and so you know i mean he he will be remembered for generations to conver his heroic activism and his is ability to you know bring the people forward and let them hear the truth. on friday pakistan's government has reached a deal with a muslim cleric to hold mass protest in the capital islamabad tens of thousands of time here condrey supporters and did a sit in after he convinced authorities to dissolve parliament before elections in

march following can now take place within ninety days and they've also agreed to discuss the actual reforms however connery's demand that the army be consulted on the structure of the interim administration was rejected political chaos in the country and growing fury over widespread corruption is also deep into after a government clashed with the country's top court its order to arrest the prime minister over corruption case has been rejected sultan and holly journalist and a former officer of the pakistani air force says a change of power may not be far away people likening it to the square and so many other things but my personal feeling is that in all those uprisings there was not a single leader around whom people could rally but away here they have in the shape of a llama. but there have been actually two or three different theories about the background of this man some say that because of his canadian nationality and because of his

longer stay in the west he may have been motivated as well as funded by the west there is another theory that he may be a stooge of the military the fact is that whoever has launched him this particular person has done his homework because if the man has captured the spirit and imagination of the people. the feeling that they were down drugged and they were neglected they were driven against of all because of bad governance because of the better situation because of lack of energy lack of food and lack of jobs people are joining him in flocks and even those who are double minded are now trying to make sure that it matters if history has to change of this country. mass rallies staged by an influential cleric in pakistan only attitude uncertainty in a country seeking electoral reforms and a foreign corruption type country has called for revolution r.t. talked exclusively to the protest leader who told us exactly what he means by.

when i see evolution we should keep in your mind in egypt in tunis in libya and all these countries. we needed a dictatorship for years and years for a long time. and the people stood up against that indeed on there was when eric here rule of shane shah the people stood up against that. or dystonic is bit different there is no one else rude neither monadic elude nor mediated a dictatorship here is electoral authority did twenty guineas electoral dictatorship true democracy does not exist in this society neither in political field nor in social feed nor in economic field nor democracy so this is a lawlessness total chaos and an article in this country government is totally dysfunctional. saw that this is the single nation single country in all muslim world having a nuclear capability and if the same situation continues that would be

a very big disaster if we could come to the level of collapse so out of this martin movement is anti corruption to educate our society from corruption and this is need of the whole muslim world and old third world and developing muslim countries the have to get to good of corruption and corrupt leaders. and you can see the full interview with a here hundred at eight forty five here on our team and it's also available on our website at r.t. dot com now here's a little of what else is a lot of for you there is take a look. in egypt police used tear gas to disperse a crowd outside alexandria courtroom where a former police chief and five other officers are on trial over the killing of civilians during the twenty eleven uprising that toppled president mubarak but more on this had to r.t. dot com also online. is there life outside our planet

some scientists now say yes after a fossilized algae is discovered inside a sri lankan meteorite. i had of the twenty second of january election many israelis who used to support prime minister benjamin netanyahu are changing their minds he's now viewed by many as not being radical an elf although still expected to return to office now to now who is likely to lose votes to his former right wing allies as artie's fall asleep or now reports. he's the surprise success story is usually action campaign one twin millionaire uses a palestinian state would be suicide for israel naftali bennett used to work for prime minister netanyahu but now he's working at taking supporters away from him like this man who used to be a diehard supporter of netanyahu so he could party until these elections rolled around the likud is. a bus full of right wing members of knesset with

a left wing person driving the bus as far as being i mean. even though i am opposed to a state. i would say most members of the likud obviously a minute is for it the irony is that while the world sees netanyahu as a white when leader at home he's losing face among supporters for not being focused enough this is part of the right wing campaign he's up against there are some things we all know will never happen the sopranos will never return for another season. growing our pro and a peace agreement with the palestinians will not happen promises like this have put bennett's jewish home party in food position it's poised to take more than twelve percent of parliamentary seats analysts say little yahoo while still expected to serve another term is running scared he's up his rhetoric i say in the most clear

of terms the western wall is not occupied territory i don't care what the un says we will build in jerusalem because it's our right not one yahoos we could list has grown even more right wing with radicals like this woman high up in the pecking order. but the league would be ten a party is a party with values the state of israel is a state of the jews whose eternal capital is jerusalem. but what will be the implications of such rhetoric after the elections many israelis are asking themselves. about the day after will netanyahu become more rightwing and risk drawing israel into conflicts with its neighbors or will he back down and risk losing face among his supporters. is hoping for the latter that netanyahu will listen to world opinion and reach a compromise with the palestinians he knows all too well what the current cycle of violence can bring speakers daughter was killed in

a suicide bombing seventeen years ago. with the we don't have unfortunately in the center and the left a leader who significantly charismatic to lead this country and give its people hope the left is also divided but i do think netanyahu will find a way to compromise because of world pressure but that compromise won't come easy enough to be bennett solution to the israeli palestinian conflict is to annex most of the west bank while allowing palestinians limited self rule in the wrist and while that might not seem a possible idea to most of the international community it's exactly what his constituency wants to hear a fact and it on yahoo is acutely aware of the r.t. television. israel's election is only two days away and r.t. will be following it closely providing you with in-depth coverage. how will tensions with to run develop settlement expansion isolate can there be peace with gaza what's next in relations with america will not and you know who survive his

snuff election on january twenty second. israel decides on arts and. now the u.k. could drift towards exit exiting the european union and that's the warning of prime minister david cameron revealed in extra time he's delayed speech on britain's status within the blog he also claimed you were is a need a fundamental change and may fail if it doesn't deal with people's frustration in india terry measures slashing their living standards at home cameron's been urged to fulfil his pledge to bring powers back from brussels so london calls for an an hour to referendum get louder he's been wavering about the idea saying it could be held after the next general election in twenty fifteen the conservative party m.p. robert oulds says cameron can no longer delay facing a problem. he needs to set a clear course of what he's going to be doing regarding the european you have a clear distinctive workable policy to fail to do that just keeps the speculation going and keeps the infighting in the conservative party continuing so really he

needs to get a grip on this policy as soon as possible and perhaps not trying to lie having a referendum until some time after the next general election that's even if he is prime minister but hold it before that would be the best way to end the uncertainty and so we know exactly where we are going britain pays billions each year to the european union we have enormous costs put on the british economy as a result of excessive e.u. regulation and e.u. policies they just don't work for this country it's more of a hindrance than it is a help to the british economy and of course it undermines our own democracy and the option is quite simply so either stay in the european union as it is which doesn't work for many different people or of course leave the european union and negotiate a. basis of a relationship that is purely built around trade and the sooner david cameron delivers the wishes of the british people but turns power or exits the european

union the better and whether euro skeptic mood on the rise in britain and many other e.u. countries that is now gaining support in the blocs powerhouse germany thousands have signed a petition against the so-called european stability mechanism which would allow the block to directly a troubled states as peter all the reports germans are becoming increasingly disappointed with brussels deciding on their money. there's a rising feeling here in germany that it's not the germans who were really in charge of their country. the government has taken the sovereign rights of the german people and given them away to bureaucrats in brussels specifically with regards to currency this is a painful injury to the sovereignty of germany the issue is said to be fought out in the second tightest court this group calling themselves the civil coalition movement want to stop germany's fiscal future being decided by the european central

bank particularly how much german cash goes to other eurozone countries and set the pressure to democracy because it's no longer the governments who have to make a policy but it is the european central central bank deciding which policy is paid for over five thousand people back their petition as they look to challenge one of the most common pieces of perceived wisdom in europe that germany is the success story in the eurozone there was no other country which had so little benefits out of the euro if you come to look to the numbers according to their legal team those numbers showed germany being forced to pay for the euro zone countries despite this not being part of the deal and the single currency was created finance isn't the only place where germans feel a grip is slipping one former german foreign minister gave different reasons why

they may be issues with sovereignty suggesting that they have their root in the memory of the country's past but sometimes we shy back from our responsibility as our room states this is a problem not that we are pressed from the outside the defense is also a concern for those who believe germany is losing control of its sovereignty the country is still home to nato bases over twenty years after the end of. cold war germany today faces no major military threats nor does any european state and that's why this gigantic military machine that the americans have built up is completely in that protesting there appear to be historical cultural and economic reasons why some germans feel less sovereignty is disappearing and for a group of lawyers getting ready for their legal battle with the european central plank twenty thirteen look set to be an important year and what they see is the fight to return german rule to the german people peter all of a r.t.

belin. now is take a look at some other stories from around the world thousands have marched through the greek capital athens parading the coffin of a pakistani immigrant who was stabbed to death earlier this week the country has seen a surge into immigrant anger in races attacks since the start of the economic crisis three years ago it was traders accuse the right wing party golden dawn of racism and of exploiting public discontent during financial difficulties to gain popularity. campbell garia a man has tried to shoot the leader of bulgaria's ethnic turkish party during a televised conference the attacker was arrested at the scene after he climbed the podium but put a gun to the head of his victim and double misfired further investigation showed that the attacker was of turkish descent and used a non-lethal gas pistol the modus of the incident remain unknown but the sale it was a drug addict and was additionally caring to nice. thousands

of people have gathered in state capitals across the u.s. to rally at camps to ban on assault weapons on a national gun appreciation day some of the demonstrators are carrying the rifles and pistols others waved posters saying an armed society is a polite society this comes after president barack obama unveiled a package of weapon control proposals the u.s. debate over stricter gun control has flared since last month's shooting of twenty children six adults at sandy hook elementary school. while there are some streets in america where brezhnev's fear to walk in after the break r.t. has a story of two of the country's most violent criminal gangs. well

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